Weird, Bizarre Fungi in Nature

Here's your chance to show us the really weird and wonderful fungi which grow, often sight-unseen. The fungi can be mushrooms, toadstools or other strange growths which defy categorisation.
Macro and close-up shots welcome. You may not know what the fungus is, and other entrants or viewers might help identify them. Photos taken outside in the real world are preferred, but for this challenge, you may have had a reason for shooting indoors. Small insects or spiders may be present, but should not dominate the picture. Please NO red-capped amanati muscari, or other commonly photographed mushrooms etc. SIZE: 1,600px MAXIMUM ON LONGER SIDE.

Show full rules

Announced:

Saturday, 18th May, 2013 (GMT)

Submissions:

Saturday, 25th May, 2013 –
Friday, 31st May, 2013
(GMT)

Voting:

Saturday, 1st June, 2013 –
Friday, 7th June, 2013
(GMT)

Processing rules:

SIZE: Longer side of entry, MAXIMUM 1600px.

Full colour only, with full EXIF data.

Don't remove the background.

No glaringly obvious HDR. If it hurts my eyes, it's out!

TITLE: Give your entry a title, not just a photo number

No watermarks or forms of identification, or personal website references.

Capture date rules:

No restrictions.

Additional rules:

YES! Photos entered in previous DPR challenges MAY be used in this challenge.

Two (2) entries per person allowed, but each entry should be a different type of fungus.

If I believe the fungus is not very unusual or bizarre, I may suggest a withdrawal of the entry.

PLEASE vote on other entries, to counteract the sandbaggers.

ENTRANTS WHO HAVE ENTERED MANY CHALLENGES, AND HAVE NEVER VOTED, OR HAVE A VERY LOW VOTING SCORE RELATIVE TO THEIR ENTRIES MAY BE DQ'D.

Entrants who cheat by sandbagging, vote manipulation, or with multiple DPR accounts will be DQ'd from my challenges.

Your complaint (along with the complaints of others regarding this entry) will be
reviewed by the challenge owner. Depending upon the nature and applicability of the
complaint, the entry may be disqualified. In extreme circumstances the user who submitted
the entry may receive a ban from the challenge or series in question.

Congratulations, Jill, on placing third in this challenge. Your entry certainly aroused the most interest for its weirdness! Great colours in the picture. I've never seen one, and I wonder if it really does smell as bad as reputed. (If so, I won't go searching for one)! Ruth :-)

It's a stinkhorn, native to Australasia - and was the first Australian fungus to be described scientifically. You can imagine some ship's naturalist arriving onshore, taking one look at it, and going, what the **** is that! :- )